Luke's Diary: An Unlucky Man In A Zombie Apocalypse. Entries 757 to 956

Entry 942: Friday 26th April 2019

Entry 942
Friday 26th April 2019

I'm still stuck in this bl**dy dirty disabled toilet. I was let out earlier on and I discovered where we were, and who are captors are, but I also found out something else that has left me fuming, distraught but also anxious.

The day started with Ash and I waking up in the dirty disabled toilet after getting hardly any sleep. "You OK?" I asked Ash. "No," he bluntly said, "I'm not OK." "Did you get any sleep?" I asked. "What do you think?" snapped Ash. "Well, I heard you snoring," I said. "Well you can't have heard me for long," said Ash, stretching his arms and yawning loudly, "I don't feel like I got a wink of sleep. My head's throbbing, my back's aching and to be honest I wish I'd have stayed on the bl**dy island." I stood up and started stretching my arms and legs. "What are you doing?" asked Ash. "Getting ready for action," I said, "That door could open any moment and if it does, we need to be ready." "Ready for what?" said Ash, "We haven't had any sleep, we've been laid on a dirty toilet floor all night, we're aching all over and we don't have any weapons. We're not in any fit state to be getting ready for anything." "Then we need to get into a fit state," I said, "We haven't got time to be sitting on our arses, moaning and feeling sorry for ourselves." "Luke," said a firm Ash, grabbing me by the shoulders, "Look at us. We look like sh*t. We've spent the night on a toilet floor, we're exhausted, we're sleep deprived, we have no idea where we are, we're f*cked Luke, we're absolutely..." SLAP! I whacked Ash hard across the face and slapped his cheek. Ash gasped, touched his cheek that now had a red mark on it and looked at me with a shocked expression. "You slapped me," gasped Ash. "You need to focus," I said, "Now just sharpen up and wait."

Ash and I spent a few hours mooching around the disabled toilet. "It must be early afternoon now," said Ash. "Yeah, well, there's nothing we can do," I said, "We just need to keep waiting." "Waiting is driving me mad," said Ash. "Well, let's talk," I said, "We never finished our conversation that we started yesterday." "I don't want to finish it," said Ash, "To be honest, I wish I'd never said anything." "I'm glad you did," I said, "I feel like I know you better now. You know there's nothing to be embarrassed about." "Who said I was embarrassed?" asked Ash. "Well you act all embarrassed," I said. "Well, I'm not," said a firm Ash, "I just don't want everyone knowing my business." "Everyone?" I said, "Your mates? Your sister? Naomi didn't even know you were married." "Yeah well we drifted apart," said Ash, "Not that we were ever really that close. You'd better not tell her about Yvonne." "Why not?" I said, "Why does it have to be a secret?" Ash took a step closer to me and grabbed my arms. "Luke," he firmly said, "I'm serious. Promise me you won't say a word. I mean it, promise me." Ash frowned with eagerness. "Yeah yeah, OK," I said, "If you don't want me to tell anyone I won't. Your secret's safe with me." "Yeah?" said Ash, "Like Cyn's secret was safe with you? She told you about her being in prison, you promised to say nothing and then you blurted it out." "Yeah, well I lost my tempter, and it all just came out didn't it?" I said. "Yeah well I've confided in you Luke," said Ash, "I mean it, it's my business, I don't want everyone knowing, so you'd better not say anything." "Fine" I snapped, "I won't say anything. I'll keep my mouth shut. Although, personally I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill." "I don't care what you think," said Ash, "I wish I'd never told you." "Yeah, well, don't worry," I said, "I won't say anything. It's none of my business. We've all lost people we care about. I suppose we deal with it in our own way. I'm just saying that if you ever want to talk..." "I don't," said a firm Ash interrupting me. "Yeah, I know," I said, "But if you ever..." "I won't," said Ash, interrupting me again, "Seriously. Now just drop it OK?"

At that moment the door to the disabled toilet started to unlock from the other side. Ash and I gasped, took a few steps back and adopted a defensive position. The door flung open and we both stood frozen to the spot; eyes wide open and jaws practically on the floor. A cold shiver ran down my spine as I stared in shock at the person who had just opened the door. "Oh my God," I gasped. It was Kyle. KYLE! He was stood in the doorway holding a crowbar in one hand and a set of keys in the other. He was wearing grubby jeans, a dark hoody, a torn jacket and a dark face mask. "F*ck" said Kyle, "It IS you two. They told me they'd found two men. One with dark hair and one with a scar on his left cheek. I thought – no. It can't be Luke and Ash, but then they told me you were with a bloke with burn marks on his face who had missing fingers and that's when I realised, they were talking about Mike, and then I knew – I knew it must be you two. What are you doing here?" "What are WE doing here!?" I loudly exclaimed, "We came looking for you. What are YOU doing here!? Are you with the people that knocked us out and brought us here?" "Yeah, sort of," said Kyle. "But I wasn't there when they grabbed you. I was out on a run looking for some supplies. You shouldn't have come looking for me!" "We were worried about you," I said, "You just disappeared." "I wanted to leave," said Kyle, "I thought it was for the best. You don't have to worry about me, I can look after myself. You two being here could really mess up my plans." "What plans?" I exclaimed, "Kyle, what the Hell is going on? Where are we? Who are these people you're with?" "Just shut up," said Kyle, moving closer to us, "Keep your voice down." "Look, can we just get out of here?" said Ash. "Not just yet," said Kyle. "Excuse me?" said an offended Ash, "If I want to leave, then I'll leave. I don't need your permission." Ash started to walk out of the toilet. "If you walk out that door and go upstairs without me, they might just kill you," said Kyle. Ash stopped and turned around. "You're gunna have to start talking, Kyle," I said, "We came over to find you and now it looks like you're with the people that grabbed us and that you're holding us hostage." "It's not like that," said Kyle. "Then what IS it like?" I snapped. "Look," said Kyle, "They've been watching you. They saw you at the stadium and they followed you around the streets. They saw you when Trudy did that weird thing with the infected when their heads blew up. They want her here. They're trying to come up with some plan where they exchange you, Ash and that other woman for Trudy." "Who's THEY?" asked Ash. "They call themselves the Dodgers," said Kyle, "A group of kids that steal food and supplies from other survivors. They pretend to be dead or injured so that people will run over and try to help them. The kids spray something in the Samaritan's eyes; deodorant or something like that, and when they're on the floor in agony the kids grab their bags, nick any weapons and steal their supplies. It's how they've managed to stay alive for so long." "That's what that little sh*t did yesterday," said Ash, "That kid. He ran out into the middle of the road, clutching his throat. He was conning us. It was probably his other little kiddie mates that turned up and knocked us out."  "Yeah, that was Dylan," said Kyle, "He's ten. He's young but he's quick." "If it's just a load of kids then how did we get from the centre of Southampton to here?" I asked. "And where IS here?" asked Ash. "Look" said Kyle, "I can let you out of here and we can go up top, but you've got to tell them that you'll get Trudy back here." "That's not going to happen," I said. "Yeah," said Kyle, "I know that but just tell them what they want to hear. Seriously, you don't want to p*ss them off." "Kyle what can a load of kids do?" said Ash. "Don't underestimate them," said Kyle, "They can look after themselves. Anyway, it's not just a load of kids." "Yeah," I said, "Who was that man who came and spoke to us last night?" "I'll introduce you," said Kyle, "But just be careful what you say. We'll just say that I've let you out because we're going to talk about how you're going to get Trudy here." "But you KNOW that's not going to happen, don't you?" I said. "Yeah I know," said Kyle, "I'm going to sort everything out." "Hang on," said Ash, "Do we say we know each other or what?" "Yeah," said Kyle, "When I got back and they told me about you two I said that it sounded like you might be people I know from the island. Dylan's been following you around ever since you got to the stadium. He's heard everything. He knows you came over to look for me. They know I'm your son. There's no point in lying. Let's not make things more complicated than they already are. "Complicated?" I said, "What do you mean? And what do you mean when you say you'll 'sort everything out?'" "You'll see," said Kyle, "When it all kicks off, just don't get involved." "When all what kicks off?" asked Ash. "Yeah," I said, "What are you talking about?" "You'll find out," said Kyle "Just keep your gobs shut. Just say that we've had a chat and that you're going to go back to the island and bring Trudy back with you." "Yeah, but what's going to happen when they realise we're not going to be bringing Trudy back?" I said. "Don't worry," said Kyle, "I'll have sorted everything out by then."